Rhisiart Hughes
, |occupation=Freelance Assassin Thief |affiliation= |entrance exam= (Optional) |quirk apprehension= (Optional) |debut= |voice= }} Rhisiart Hughes (リチャードヒューズ, Rhichādo Hyūzu) better known as White Needletail (針尾雨燕, Harioamatsubame) is a former theif and a freelancer mercenary as well as the childhood sweetheart of Ekaterina Nikolova. He is also the godfather of Enzo. He became a world-class thief after following Ekaterina's death and aligned himself with the infamous crime boss who is feared as The Serpent of Four Corners (四つ角の大蛇, Yotsukado no Orochi) in order to get his revenge upon the clandestine assassin organization known as . He allows himself to be hired as a freelancer assassin to gain their trust and try to dismantle them from the inside. He was ultimately tasked with killing Enzo after the Consilium had failed twice to retrieve him and had lost two of their best assassins because of him. He pretends to target Enzo, whilst secretly working with him; only to reveal himself as a triple agent, who was using both Enzo and the Consilium, as he holds them both responsible for the death of Ekaterina. His mutant quirk, Longevity grants him the ability to resist aging and rapidly produce fresh new cells while also suppressing telomere degradation, granting him the title of The Timeless (時を超えた, Toki o koeta). Appearance Personality History Rhisiart was conceived by a 17 year old poor immigrant girl who was raped by a homeless man; born as a result of racial violence, Rhisiart grew up loathing those who think of themselves as highly solely due to their racial lineage. Rhisiart's mother died a few years later after contracting tuberculosis and them not being able to afford treatment. Hughes still proudly took up his mother's last name and joined an Indie film company as a 'spot boy' or helper, where he would assists the actors and technicians by offering them beverages and finishing several fetch quests for them, such as bringing new batteries for the camera, etc. While doing his job as a helper, Rhisiart rescued a stunt double from falling to his death and treated him; however, due to the limited budget of the film, Rhisiart was requested by the producer to perform the stunts in the stunt double's place. Rhisiart agreed and discovered that he has a natural skill for performing stunts and became something of a 'daredevil' on camera. This, however, caused the stunt double, Brian, to lash out at Rhisiart and accused him of stealing his job. Rhisiart eventually left the crew he was working with and began applying for the role of a stuntman for films that require one. After struggling to find a new job for months, he finally landed a role at a small time film production company, which was shooting their new films in the "burrows". However, the people from the burrows had issues with the local government whom viewed them as dirty people who were a "health hazard" to the city; despite this, he sided with those from burrows since Rhisiart viewed the rich as inherently evil. Due to his actions, he was offered a small hut to stay in by the people in the burrows and Rhisiart who was already suffering from a financial crisis happily accepted but this would not come without a price. He later came down with Hanson's disease, which progressively got worse, and due to the poor conditions, he was unable to afford the drugs needed to cure him. His nerves were damaged and the people he trusted; the movie production team, agreed with the local government eventually after witnessing Rhisiart's condition and turned their back on him, deeming him as 'dirty' and firing him. However, the teen actress refused to act as cold and inhumane as the rest of her crew. She personally met up with him and tried to hand him money, only to be taken away by her director and was asked by her father to refrain from further contact with Rhisiart. Knowing that her father would probably keep track of her banking details, she formulated a plan to rescue Rhisiart on her own. She helped cure him by stealing the medical drugs away from the same local government who claimed they were unable to help the inhabitants of the burrows. Feeling indebted to her, he made an oath to watched her from that point on to protect her as she was at odds with the authorities. Ekaterina eventually bought him a cellular device with her check and the two began texting each other on a daily basis; with Rhisiart developing romantic feelings for Ekaterina within the next few months of them talking. Rhisiart and Ekaterina shared a sense of sympathy towards the poor and labor class and considered the middle class as 'less-than honorable', this ideology also came with an outright hatred for those with money and power. The two soon began stealing more medicines to help the others at the burrows and rescue orphans from harsh conditions. Rhisiart is forced to depart from Ekaterina during his early twenties due to the actress getting an acting job in Germany. Rhisiart took to professional thievery during this time. However, their departure would be short-lived as Ekaterina would announce her being in a relationship with her director, Michael, six months later. While this crushes Rhisiart's heart, out of respect, he accepts his place as Ekaterina's friend and supports her during her brief relationship with Michael. After Ekaterina is abandoned by her boyfriend due to her unexpected pregnancy, Rhisiart tries to support her by partaking in a huge heist that earned him "some serious buck". Michael's defacing of Ekaterina takes a toll on her body and mind, promptly hinting Rhisiart to travel to Louisville where they lived together. Ekaterina eventually engaged in a brief romantic relationship with Rhisiart while she was pregnant with Liz and even allowed him to name her daughter. Ekaterina not wanting to give up the child begged Rhisiart to do something, as she could not give her daughter a normal life considering her reputation and status; leading to him presenting Ekaterina with the idea to drop her child to Wool's Orphanage, where she could be adopted and raised by a good family. With them running out of money, Rhisiart started stealing again but this time, he was caught on tape by the security cameras and this was broadcasted on the news. Ekaterina found out about her lover's tendency to lie and steal and immediately disapproved of it. However, she did cover up for him and protected him from the police and even arranged for him to safely get back to his city with only one promise: to never come back. Heart-broken, Rhisiart left and did not hear from Ekaterina for months but began honing his thievery skills under the tutelage of the retired thief Thomas Hardy. He also crossed paths with his future employer Phinehas Nathair and even saved Nathair's life, in exchange, Nathair let him know that his former lover was now with the circus owner, Lorenzo Martin Sr.; greatly angered, he chose to ignore Ekaterina and focus on learning how to better himself; which eventually led him to seek training from a Japanese solider. He went on to become the White Needletail (針尾雨燕, Harioamatsubame) at some point, becoming a wanted criminal through seventeen countries in the world. However, his life turned outside down after he encountered a Raptor in-training, who brutalized him; even before he could heal from his physical injuries, he received a deep emotional wound, in the form of Ekaterina's death. Having spent months obsessing over the death of his old flame, Rhisiart made a deal with Phinehas by selling his loyalty to him, to obtain the name of her killer, which led him to the . He also discovered that Ekaterina had a son in the form of Enzo, who she made his spiritual godson. Through his grief, he became even more enraged when he found out that Consilium est Voltur had taken in Enzo; an act in which he viewed as Adela taking Enzo away from his identity and people, raising him to be a "weapon" for her to use against the poor and unfortunate, and turning him into the very thing Ekaterina resented about those who lived a more privileged life. He further resented himself for not being able to protect Enzo from having the life that he did and being turned into a child-soldier and an assassin. He made it his life's mission, to destroy the monster that Enzo had been turned into, to honor the memory of Ekaterina and takedown the Consilium est Voltur from inside. Rhisiart's activities were noted by the Consilium operating in Ecuador as they were targeted by him. During his altercation with the south american branch of the organization, he nearly made off with millions of dollars but was caught by them eventually; due to their network. Impressed with his skills, they enlisted him within the Consilium to be set up as a new gun-for-hire associated with them. Unbeknownst to them, this was his plan all along; as he started working with them to gain their trust, carrying out their assignments and learning their ways for months. Judex contacted Rhisiart after Adela's failure and assigned him to take care of the Enzo problem and instead of capturing him alive, he was asked to bring Chase his dead body, so Chase could decipher the mystery related to the boy's mysterious resurrection. The secret was after all important for the organization, in order to decode the secret to having an army of resurrected assassins; something Rhisiart knew he could not have let them have. Rhisiart went onto find Enzo but instead found a defeated and lost Régulo who told him about his encounter with Reed and Rudy and how they were rescued by their crew, in exchange for food. Hearing this, Rhisiart understood that taking out Enzo would not be easy since he now had allies. Rhisiart was overcome with a strange dilemma of whether or not ending Enzo's life, as on one hand, he did partially blame the boy and his father for Ekaterina's death and hated the boy for what he had become under the Vultures; not to mention, his promise of honoring Ekaterina's memory meant destroying Enzo and his body so the Consilium could never figure out the secret to his resurrection, on the other hand, he could not bring himself to destroy someone who was half Ekaterina and was deeply loved by her. However, after hearing that Enzo had killed German Brigadier, he once again became convinced that the boy had become a monster and needed to be put down. He eventually met up with Enzo and tried to recruit him to work for the Consilium once again; while secretly revealing it to be his secret plan to take them down once and for all, to which Enzo agreed. During this time, he was partnered up with an Enzo who had rejoined the Consilium and had apparently "realized his true purpose". He was hired to re-educate Enzo in the way of the vultures, to make him a more loyal and effective tool in their arsenal. However, in reality, he was playing both Enzo and Benjamin and his Consilium; planning for them to slowly take out each other, while he acted as both of their confidant. Abilities Quirk Longevity (延命, Enmei): Rhisiart's mutant quirk grants him the ability to retain the vitality and appearance of a man in his late twenties despite being fifty one years old. This is achieved by his body producing high amounts of telomerase reverse transcriptase and naturally initiating rapid somatic cell division or mitosis which occurs at a rate that is over twice as great compared to other humans. These healthy cells along with his degeneration resistant telomere grants him the ability to resist the effects of aging to a highly successful degree. Lastly, the accelerated mitosis also aids in healing superficial damage at a higher rate than normal. Fighting Style Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: *' ': *' ': Skilled Knife Fighter: *'Adept Knife Thrower': Overall Abilities Master Thief: Pain Immunity: Due to suffering from an extreme case of Hansen's disease that permanently damaged his nerve endings and receptors and has turned his skin insensitive, Rhisiart does not experience conventional pain. This irreversible damage to his body allows him to fight without feeling much pain. His hardened and insensitive skin also makes it hard for others to inflict any lasting damage that will be registered by his brain and keep him down. Enzo figured the best way to harm him would be by increasing his skin's sensitivity twenty-folds temporarily and use various chemical agents to put him in a state of psychosomatic suffering. The callouses also makes his skin somewhat more resilient to cuts and blunt force. High-Intellect: *'Master deceiver': Intimidation: Accomplished Swimmer: Equipment Arawn: Named after the the Celtic god of the dead, war, revenge and terror, the Arawan is a gauntlet like device worn by Rhisiart that serves as both his assassination tool and boosts his already impressive hand to hand combat skills. It has a metal plate on top of the blade's bracer. The main purpose of this contraption was to facilitate quirk and stealthy assassination by jettisoning a concealed blade in a short amount of time, however, it has evolved to be so much more than its original design. *'Retractable Blade': The blade is made of a durable high grade steel alloy and was made retractable with a push and reload mechanism. Using a spring-loaded contraption that he uses to house this sharp and durable blade, this allowed Rhisiart to draw blades from under his sleeve by thrusting his arm forward into a similar fashion to punching; allowing him to launch it forward with the sheer force of his blow. The blade could then be physically retrieved from the victim's body and be reloaded into his contraption once again. The device can hold up to three such blades. *'Blade Firing Mechanism': The wrist featured a small device which upon activation would unfold its arms and reveal it self to be a projectile firing mechanism; akin to that of a crossbow, that could fire these blades with great precision and speed. The mini-crossbow could be used to fire two different types of projectiles: a regular projectile blade and a poisoned blade that caused the victim to become paralyzed and die withing 26 minutes of being affected by it. However, it can only fire one projectile at a time. **'Poison Blade': The poison blades were actually smaller knife like blades were hollowed within to harbor poison that would distill when the blade is stabbed into a target and because of its exceedingly thin profile and the requirement of a hollow chamber, the poison blade risked being particularly brittle and was prone to breakage. Tetrodotoxin extracted from puffer fish was the venom of choice that was used in these blades as it allowed him to paralyze his targets in a matter of minutes without them even realizing about their poisoned status. The blades are actually the iconic "V" shape that is formed on his Arawn and are held in place using an internal electromagnet. However, since there are only two of them, Rhisiart has to be extremely careful about using them. *'Electric Discharge': The mouth of the Arawn acts like a long distance taser as it fires off two filaments that stick to the target's body and then shocks them. The device shoot two metal probe darts a distance of 15 feet to reach an attacker before they can reach him; giving him a range advantage. However, it can only be used on one person at a time. This device can shock the attacker for 45 seconds, giving Rhisiart plenty of time to either strike them with another weapon or detach the probes and run away. Rondel dagger: The Rondel Dagger is a long, stiff blade used as Rhisiart's sidearm or back up weapon when his other arm is engaged. It is made of steel and is a 12½" long blade with a needle point, that is best used for stabbing people. It gets its name from the circular hand guard and also features a spherical pommel. Trivia Category:Assassins Category:Thieves Category:Mercenaries Category:Males Category:Earth 0 Characters